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What are the good practices for flood emergency in England?
Written by Ismail Weiliang and Sophie Dusting, Senior Resilience Advisor, RAB Consultants Ltd., UK
ISMAIL WEILIANG
The Climatebender
SOPHIE DUSTING
Senior Resilience Advisor
Views are entirely ours
and not connected to any company
A look back in history
Flood emergency planning in the UK has come a long way since the floods of 2007. 55,000 properties flooded and it caused the largest loss of essential services in the UK since World War II. 13 people also lost their lives, a very sobering statistic.
The Pitt Review, an independent investigation into the floods, put forward 92 recommendations that changed the way UK authorities prepare and respond to flood events. This article looks at some of the good practice that has emerged since the Pitt Review was published.
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Quick Take:
- The 2007 floods and subsequent Pitt Review was a turning point in how UK authorities and incident responses plan for and respond to flooding.
Flood forecasting collaboration
The review identified an urgent need for organisations that provide flood forecasting and warning to collaborate and share information to support a more coordinated and effective response. This resulted in the formation of the Flood Forecasting Centre (FFC); a partnership between the Environment Agency and Met Office which operates 24/7 basis and provides a range of hydrological services.
(Image: Environment Agency, 2017)
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Quick Take:
- Flood forecasting collaboration improves flood emergency planning and response.
Flood outlooks to aid incident planning
A historic issue was knowing how, when and where a flood is likely to happen. Incident responders needed an estimate, rather than exact figures, to help prioritise significant assets and move resources to areas most at risk. This was a driving force behind the daily 5-day flood outlook report, called a Flood Guidance Statement (FGS). The FGS, produced by the FFC, covers all major sources of flooding in England and Wales (river, surface water, ground water and coastal/tidal) and describes the risk based on the likelihood and impact severity by council administrative areas. It also contains sections that focus on any specific areas of concern to provide more localised information.
(Image: Environment Agency, 2020)
The FGS provides a common understanding of the flood risk, supports decision-making of incident responders, triggers preparedness activities such as asset checks and rostering, and provides a greater lead time to escalate response structures. It also helps incident responders to move resources such as staff, high-volume pumps and temporary defences, to areas most at risk.
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Quick Take:
- Effective flood forecasting enables authorities to prepare for flooding and to minimise the impacts of flooding to communities.
Clearer Warning Messages
England’s Flood Warning Codes were revised in light of the Pitt Review. The revised codes (see the figure below) are clearer on what the warnings mean and what the recipients are expected to do. The associated messages provide more context in terms of flood location, timings and local characteristics, helping to encourage the public to act and to support local decision-making.
(Image: Environment Agency, 2017)
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Quick Take:
- Distinct and clear communications for flood warnings are required on locations, timing and what the audience is expected to do.
Communicating uncertainty in forecasts
Forecasts are moving away from deterministic to probabilistic and ensemble forecasts. Probabilistic forecasts provide a percentage change of a flood event occurring and ensemble forecasts are run a number of times with different starting conditions. Uncertainty is better accounted for and it enables the forecaster to more clearly communicate their confidence in the forecast. An understanding of uncertainty in the forecast enables incident responders to make more informed decisions.
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Quick Take:
- The use of probabilistic and ensemble forecasts better communicates uncertainty and confidence in the forecast.
Ready to respond
Investment in people, processes and procedures, before a flood occurs, is crucial and was recognised by the Pitt Review. Subsequently, Exercise Watermark, the UK’s biggest civil emergency exercise, was held in 2011 to test the response to floods in England and Wales and further improve capabilities.
Capability-based training for staff, testing of plans and rehearsal of roles in simulation exercises such as Exercise Watermark, are some measures that can improve organisation response consistency. This, alongside improved staff confidence and competence, enhances the overall performance of incident responders.
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Quick Take:
- Improved performance, response consistency and improved staff confidence will lead to increased competency in flood emergency responses.
Predicting the Future
Technological advancements are improving flood modelling, forecasting and warning capabilities allowing incident responders to plan, with confidence, to mitigate the likely impacts of a flood. Access to real-time flood impacts mapping to support flood incident management, is being extensively researched in the UK. This will prove a vital tool to help manage flood events, particularly the more extreme events likely to impact communities due to climate change. However, the age-old challenge remains; ensuring those at risk know what flood warnings mean, what they should do and are educated and empowered to heed the warnings once issued.
Mobile friendly and accessible platforms that can reach a greater proportion of the population at risk will go some way to solve challenges associated with flood warning communications. In Singapore, a telegram channel was recently launched to provide weather and flood risk and flash flood warnings. It will be interesting to see if this will change public perception and behaviour.
References
- Environment Agency, 2019. A decade of flood forecasting: saving lives. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/a-decade-of-flood-forecasting-saving-lives
- Environment Agency, 2020. Flood guidance statement Issue shared on Twitter. https://twitter.com/DaveThroup/status/1232015929233506305
- Environment Agency, 2018. How frightened should we be of flooding. https://environmentagency.blog.gov.uk/2017/10/27/how-frightened-should-we-be-of-flooding/
Authors:
Sophie Dusting is a Senior Resilience Advisor at RAB Consultants with over 10 years’ experience in delivering incident management and emergency planning projects for UK-based and international clients. She has extensive experience in supporting communities and organisations to increase their resilience to emergencies by embedding business continuity systems, preparing emergency response procedures, and designing and delivering incident management training and exercise programmes. Sophie has worked with clients that include UK government departments, local authorities/councils, and transport providers.
Ismail Weiliang is a climate resilience consultant with over half a decade of experience and specialises in flood risk advisory for Asia. His work involves advising governments and development banks on strategies to transform climate risks into resilience. He also founded “The Climatebender” a non-profit organisation that provides humanitarian relief to communities vulnerable to the climate crisis.
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